The Tank

Many an ancient lord's last words had been, "You can't kill me because I've got magic aaargh."
-- Magic armour is not all it's cracked up to be.
(Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times)

Not much about today, a good 1v1 vs Ava Starfire earlier in the day, letting a Harpy escape not once, but twice, but still managing to kill his Dramiel corp mate.

So things weren't looking up but late evening, one of my associates reported combat probes on scan as she was running an anomaly. A Cyclone is spotted on scan, shortly followed by a Tengu. Tengu moves off scan but is still in system, a boosting T3 no doubt but I was up for a fight regardless. My associate had cloaked in the anomaly and reported the Cyclone had warped in.

I undock Mort, a Hurricane class battlecruiser, something I haven't flown in a while in a configuration I haven't flown in even longer, a shield buffer fit.

I warp in on top of the Cyclone and engage immediately, he lights me up, scrammed I can't gain range as my MWD stares at me blankly, but I fight tooth and nail, his tank impressive, boosting... A lot. My shields are done for as we both enter armour except he boosts some shields back even under staggered dual neuts.

Mort collapses under the onslaught, the Cyclone at about 10% structure as I warp my pod to safety.

I decide to go back for seconds, grabbing Sgt Detritus, a Harbinger :)

The Cyclone had docked to repair the damage from the first fight and went back to the anomaly as he exited the station, I followed immediately, almost catching him on the gate but he waited for me inside.

Knowing I would struggle breaking his tank, my associate decloaked and engaged with her Ishtar, a flight of Ogre IIs spewing forth from her drone bay as I kept the Cyclone pinned down. The Cyclone still tanked like a champ but the combined firepower eventually breaking him.

A good fight for me in the end as I got revenge, even though it was a team effort, the Cyclone Pilot not saying anything after his loss, I don't think he was happy, the Tengu leaving system shortly after he did. Impressive tank mate, something I'm definitely interested in for the future.
I don't think I would have broken the tank on that thing without the Ishtar's help and would have lost another ship in the search for vengeance.

New shirt?

YOINK!

"You can think and you can fight, but the world's always movin', and if you wanna stay ahead you gotta dance."

-- (Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents)

Sometimes you just have to smile. I was bombing around in my Pilgrim trying to see if I could catch anything, scored an Ishkur kill in Gus before moving on out to surrounding systems. Joined up with Arzal trying to jack a Megathron who was sniping on a gate in Ingunn but all of Arzal's hard work probing him out were for nought as I uncloaked to try and lock before he warped off. He was aligned and at speed and got away before my lock resolved.

I was still mucking about in Ingunn watching a Megathron and Abbadon play docking games when a Cyclone undocked and warped to a planet, I followed but found he was safe spotted. So I gave my friend a call, she had just replaced her Cheetah, which was killed by the Megathron we missed earlier (An unfortunate cloaking accident led to her demise) and she headed straight on over to probe him out. Seconds after she dropped her first probe she reported a hit, I waited as she set up the warpin.

"No mistakes this time."

I warped in at her signal and landed right on top of the Cyclone, sitting dead still, I locked, scrammed, webbed and set my tracking disruptor active. A swarm of Hammerhead drones engulfed him and went to work as I held a tight 500 metre orbit. He deployed a flight of medium ECM drones and it wasn't long before they got there first cycle.

"Oh for crying out loud."

I furiously spammed lock on him and his drones. First order of business was to destroy the drones, my lock resolved and my Hammerheads were sent to intercept his Vespas. One down as another jam cycle hits me.

"Now you're starting to annoy me" I said to the Cyclone pilot although he probably didn't hear it.

My drones were now autonomous and were still taking out his ECM annoyances. He got one last cycle on me just as the last drone popped but it was now a matter of seconds before I started in on him again. My armour repairer and cap booster were working overtime, earning there keep as I finally got lock again, set the tracking disruptor active and resumed my tight orbit with the aid of scrambler and web. Hammerheads tearing into his shields as he capped out and lost his shield hardeners. He was at about half armour when he did something that surprised me... HE EJECTED!

Kane Rizzel > good fight I suppose
Shilo Harris > eh, was afk for the first 2 min so yeah :)

His escape pod made a hasty exit stage left.

Drones recalled in an instant as I set a bookmark of the Cyclone's location, warped to a station, ejected my pod, undocked and went about some Grand Theft Cyclone.

I boarded the Cyclone and was pleasantly surprised at the haul, some nice tech 2 goodness which will fetch a shiny penny in Rens.




2008.12.15 18:59
okay i'm noticing from the lack of insurance that you probably quit shooting and stole my ship.

either you're a great pirate, or i'm a dumbass, or both :)

Well, a little of both mate. Was a good fight and even though I didn't get a killmail the ISK is always welcome

UPDATE

I was sitting cloaked in the Pilgrim when I spotted a Claw interceptor entering the local 2/10 plex, knowing I couldn't follow in the recon I docked up and grabbed Going Postal™ for a bit of Rifter violence.

I warped in to the plex, having made sure I had the keys for the next two acceleration gates. The Claw was moving quickly through the rooms, not spending time to engage the Gistii guards. I approached the third gate, scanner showing my mark in the third room. I burst out of warp, trails of plasma streaming of the Rifter hull. My intended victim was 50km away so I punched my afterburner and started to make to intercept his orbit.

The Claw pilot didn't notice me until it was too late as I relieved him of the confines of the once beautiful Claw. His escape pod was scrambled and ransom terms offered in private convo.

"I don't have any implants so pod away" was his reply to which I gladly obliged.

The loot surprised me but I also grabbed the loot from the deadspace overseers can, which yielded a Gistii B-Type 1mn Microwarp Drive, Afterburner and Small Shield Transporter.

A nice kill, an even better haul in loot.

Update part deux

I have a new forum signature and blog banner courtesy of Brother Benthor